Commonly, known cotton harvesting machines include a basket or other receiver which serves as a compacting chamber for packaging or compacting the harvested cotton into a unitary body or module. Compactor apparatus including a frame supporting at least one auger is typically disposed in an upper region of the basket or other receiver and is modulated downwardly with the auger or augers actuated for distributing the cotton in the basket and then with the augers off compacting it downwardly against a floor of the basket. The packing occurs in process, as the cotton is being harvested and conveyed into the chamber, and is typically initiated from one of three conditions including (1) auger pressure exceeding a threshold limit; (2) a yield signal from a yield monitor reaching a set point; and (3) achieving a count value set by the operator. However, each of these conditions will be present only when the harvesting machine is harvesting, not when the machine is between passes through the field, which would be an ideal time to add compaction cycles so as to better compact the module or body of cotton.
Thus, what is sought is a process for determining an end of row or swath and automatically initiating a compacting sequence, to provide the advantages and overcome one or more of the problems set forth above.